* * * * *
Mami was with Ernesto in Key Biscyane so we showered together at my house, shampooing each other’s hair and lingering with the soap in all those luscious areas, pretending to make sure they were completely sand-free. We debated whether or not to head out to South Beach and all the restaurants on Lincoln Road but in the end the pleasure of walking leisurely hand-in-hand won out over dealing with traffic again.
We ended up at an infamous old Cuban restaurant mainly because I had heard it was under new management and I was hoping the quality of the food had improved. It hadn’t, not noticeably, but even though I preferred my own cooking the company was more than good enough to make up for the lackluster cuisine.
At some point during the mediocre meal John announced quietly, “I have a feeling something very good is going to happen soon.”
“Is going to happen?” I teased.
“You’re not just something good, Ariana. You’re magnificent.”
“Thank you.” I looked away shyly for an instant before meeting his eyes again curiously. “So what do you think is going to happen?”
“My friend from the gallery is planning to arrange something,” he replied and kept eating.
“Arrange what?” I asked urgently, sensing that whatever it was would affect our future together, which had become from the moment I met him the all-important topic in my life now and forever.
“He’s going to give me my own show next month.” It was his turn to look away humbly for a moment.
“Oh my God, that’s wonderful!” I exclaimed as quietly as the Cuban half of my nature permitted. “Your own show with just your pieces in the gallery?”
“That’s usually what having your own show implies.” The expression in his eyes as he looked into mine belied his sarcastic reply. “And if I could sell just two or three of my pieces during that show… Well let’s just say it would enable me to execute my master plan.”
“Your master plan?” I was suddenly so excited I had to put my fork down and stop eating. Just hearing him say “master plan” turned me on so much I could hardly tolerate the suspense.
“Yes. I’m meeting with him this evening at my place and I’d like for you to be there.”
“I would love that, thank you.”
He looked straight into my eyes and caressed my knee beneath the table. “You feel you’re doing the right thing don’t you, Ariana? I’m not rushing you into anything, am I?”
“I want to be with you more than anything, John.”
“I’m glad, because I love you.”
“I love you too,” I whispered, realizing it was true and that it had been true from the second I laid eyes on him.
“I want you to be mine, Ariana.” He squeezed my thigh so roughly I almost cried out. Then he retrieved his hand and sat up slightly to pull out his wallet. “Do you know what that means?” He slipped a silver credit card into the bill folder and set it near the edge of the table for the waitress.
I was so elated by his declaration of love the question confused me and yet a part of me knew exactly how to respond. “It means I’ll do whatever you say.”
He smiled up at the pretty waitress as she took his credit card and promised to be right back. “Take your time,” he told her, and ignored me for a few seconds as he watched her walk away.
A flash of jealousy burned away my euphoria and left me feeling upset and a little angry. Until he turned his head and looked deep into my eyes again, then all I saw was how beautiful he was and how lucky I was to be with him and how much I wanted him.
“Yes,” he agreed quietly, his expression stern. “You’ll do whatever I say. That’s exactly what it means, Ariana.”
“Unless of course you ask me to do something I don’t want to do,” I felt compelled to add. I was still bristling from the way he had looked at another woman.
He smiled a little but somehow that only made his eyes look darker. “You need to trust me never to do that. But I won’t ask you, Ariana. I’ll command you. You need to understand the difference.”
I remembered how I had felt during phone sex with Eric when he ordered me to do things and threatened to discipline me. But that had only been a pleasurable game. How hard John’s mouth looked as he observed my reaction was very real. It frightened me a little and excited me a lot. There was no denying it. I was caught between two conflicting emotions and yet there was really only one way I could turn—toward him and whatever he wanted because I loved him and he loved me. There was no doubt in my heart about that at least.
“I think I understand,” I said quietly, looking around me at the other diners who all seemed to be smiling and talking in another world light-years away from the one I suddenly found myself living in.
“You think, Ariana? Do you just think you love me?”
“No!” I looked at him again. “I know I love you with all my heart and soul.”
“Then answer me again.” He accepted the receipt from the waitress and this time didn’t even glance at her as we both ignored her cheerful “Buenas noches”.
“I understand, John.”
“Good.” He rewarded me with that wonderful smile of his that was already as essential to me as sunlight. “I also expect you tell me everything, even if you’re afraid it won’t please me. And I promise never to keep anything from you. It’s very important that we be able to share everything we’re thinking and feeling with each other without being afraid. Do you promise to tell me everything, Ariana?”
I thought of Eric. “Yes, John,” I lied miserably. “Always.” Almost. But, I swore to myself, I would never keep anything from him again.
* * * * *
The spacious studio was dark when we entered. Our laughter sounded uncannily loud in the silence of the large room filled with lifeless figures blacker than the night around them. The darkness was alleviated only by the faint light of a streetlamp, its yellow glow diffused by the treetops.
I set my purse down on the nearest surface and turned into John’s arms.
We were deep in a kiss I felt could have gone on forever when there was suddenly a quiet knock at the door. I had almost forgotten we were expecting someone.
“Get the door please, Ariana.” He moved over to a panel and began switching on strategically positioned lights. They shone in luminous shafts on individual statues while leaving the rest of the studio in darkness.
I ran my fingers through my hair, wishing I had time to put on more lipstick and brush my hair but, disheveled by love, I knew I looked beautiful.
The man standing out on the landing did not look as I had imagined he would—a graying, slightly overweight successful businessman wearing a white Cuban guayabera shirt. The reality was completely different. He was tall and slender with no sign of gray in his black hair and thin goatee. He was also dressed to kill in a long-sleeved black silk shirt he had only half buttoned, black leather pants and black boots.
“Good evening,” he greeted me without a smile. He spoke softly but his voice carried with authority and immediately made me feel he was accustomed to being listened to and obeyed.
“Good evening,” I echoed uneasily, and I understood why I felt this way when his arm brushed mine as he stepped inside—because it seriously excited me to suddenly find myself alone in a dark studio with two very attractive men.
“Hola, Manuel.” John returned to my side. “I’d like you to meet Ariana.”
“A pleasure.” Manuel spoke without any trace of an accent as he inclined his head slightly, his dark eyes never leaving my face.
“Likewise,” I said, unable to bring myself to smile at him again when he was looking at me so intently.
Only when he turned his head to admire the statues on display did a smile soften his firm mouth.
I studied his face, admiring the almost hawk-like nobility of his profile and the way his slightly hooded dark eyes made his goatee appear almost sinister. I felt as though I had seen his face before in an old painting or perhaps in an ancien
t Etruscan fresco. He looked more like the manager of a nightclub than the owner of a contemporary art gallery and yet that description didn’t quite fit him either. He looked like the lord of a stone castle that boasted a fully equipped dungeon…
“Magnificent,” he said beneath his breath, and the smile that had momentarily touched his mouth vanished like an illusion as he moved away from us to more closely examine the highly suggestive body of work on display.
“You’re attracted to him.”
“What?” John’s ability to read my expression didn’t surprise me—the fact that he actually sounded pleased did.
“You’re attracted to him,” he repeated relentlessly.
I realized I was insulting him by trying to cover up the obvious. He stared into my eyes, forcing me to remember that I had promised to tell him everything no matter how shocking I thought he might find it. He had also made me promise I would obey him. “Okay, yes,” I relented. “I think he’s very handsome.”
“I thought you might.” He smiled. “You obviously have excellent taste in men.”
I did not return his smile, my uneasiness intensifying. “Why are you saying this?” I whispered so Manuel wouldn’t overhear us.
“Because I’m so sure we’re meant to be together, Ariana. I’m also confident there’s nothing we can’t do together if it pleases us both.”
“Nothing? You’re making me nervous, John. Could you please be more specific?”
“I’m leaving that up to you tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. Stop insulting your own intelligence with that question. You use it to hide behind because you’re afraid of yourself and all the things you don’t dare admit you want. But you’re not alone and vulnerable anymore. You’re completely safe with me and I’m telling you that you can have anything you want, at least anything that’s within my power to give you.”
If I hadn’t known before exactly why I loved this man so much, I knew then. He was truly special. He really saw me, not just my pretty face and sexy body but my very soul. My deepest feelings—some of them hidden away even from my conscious mind—were clearly visible to him. It was also obvious that nothing he saw in me shocked or disturbed him. In fact he was smiling at me again now in a very pleased sort of way.
“Well?” he said.
“I’m feeling wide awake and like the night is young.” I rose to the challenge. “And like anything can happen.”
“See?” He brushed the hair out of my eye with a loving gesture I found absolutely reassuring. “That wasn’t so hard.”
“No, I imagine the hard part comes now.”
He laughed. “Manuel!” A delighted light shone in his eyes as he glanced over at the other man. “I think you need to hear this.”
Manuel gave the erotic tableau he was studying a loving caress before starting back toward us. “I’m listening,” he said.
“My Ariana is hungry for new experiences and she has never been with two men at the same time.”
“Well we must do something about that.”
I stared at my lover, my throat hot with indignation at how embarrassingly blunt he was being and with questions I couldn’t possibly ask out loud, such as how he even knew that.
“Your eyes are open books to me, Ariana,” he answered me anyway. “You have the most expressive eyes I have ever seen. I love them and I love you.”
“She is truly beautiful,” Manuel agreed. Beginning with my high-heeled sandals, his assessing stare moved slowly up my body before coming to rest on my face again. “I’m a firm believer in interesting new experiences myself and I would be honored to play a part in adding such a special one to her collection.”
The two men locked eyes for a long moment, during which I was breathlessly suspended between them. I was impressed and helplessly aroused by the silent eloquence of their communication as my fate was decided. I secretly longed to end up guilty even as the sensual trial I would have to undergo frightened me a little. I had experienced two cocks inside me at the same time. I had never had two handsome men doing everything in their power to please me.
“Congratulations.” Manuel’s voice broke the charged stillness. “She’ll be even lovelier collared.”
“I agree. But she doesn’t need to be. Already she’s promised to do whatever I say.”
Suddenly they both smiled at me, two grown men looking so pleased that for a second they made me think of little boys agreeing to share their favorite toy.
“Ariana.”
“Yes, John?” The command in his voice was not to be ignored.
“You will always obey me and tonight you will also obey Manuel without question or hesitation. Do you understand?”
“Yes…”
His smile disappeared and his whole expression hardened slightly but significantly.
“Yes, sir, I understand.”
“Good girl.” Manuel’s soft voice was deep as the purr of a very dangerous big cat, which made my heart beat faster. “Kiss me, Ariana.”
Keeping my eyes on John’s face, I stepped into the other man’s arms gracefully and naturally, as if he had merely asked me to dance. But then I had to look up at him and the sight inspired me to slip my arms around his neck. His goatee was sharp and rough against my skin, a delicious contrast to the firm tenderness of his lips as I willingly obeyed him.
The sensation of kissing an almost total stranger was shockingly pleasurable. I felt electrified by my wildly erotic behavior as much as by the intimate thrust of his tongue into my mouth. He was as tall as John and I discovered that his slenderness was all hard muscle when he wrapped both arms around me and pressed my body demandingly against his.
His kiss was a tropical storm of sensory impressions that completely swept me away, the unique scent and feel and flavor of him overwhelming me with their sudden intensity. Yet I was very much aware of a familiar, beloved warmth stepping up behind me.
I moaned as two sets of hands lifted my skirt, bunching it impatiently up around my waist.
John yanked my panties down to my ankles but then he just left them there as if to deliberately shackle me with them.
I freed myself from Manuel’s kiss, gasping as he dug the heel of his palm into my clit and gently cradled my pussy, lightly brushing my labia with his fingertips as he teasingly explored its slick and luscious folds. The sensation became even more delicious as John thrust his tongue into the crack between my ass cheeks, licking as his hands made their slow way back up my legs.
The night had only just begun and already my nerve ends were close to overloading with contrasting sensations that all came together in a devastatingly pleasurable way. I could hardly believe I was actually pinned between two hard male bodies, that it wasn’t just a fantasy. All my orifices were going to get a serious amount of attention tonight and suddenly I was worried I wouldn’t be able to handle it as my lover slipped a determined finger into my sphincter. Yet in the next breath I realized I wanted his finger there and that I wanted it more than anything as the unrelenting circular motion of Manuel’s hard palm against my clitoris was breathtakingly reflected in his passionate kiss. He was making my body want anything and everything they felt like putting inside me.
“I’ve never fucked her in the ass before,” John informed his guest.
This piece of information inspired Manuel to make our kiss even more savagely deep.
I clung to him because it was increasingly difficult for me to keep my balance as the intensifying pleasure of his expert caress merged with the darkly delicious sensation of John gently but relentlessly finger-fucking my ass, priming me for his much bigger and harder cock.
I immediately missed his hand when Manuel abruptly allowed me to catch my breath so he could pull my silk tank top off over my head.
“Mm, look at these.” The note of awe in his voice as he gazed down at my breasts was extremely flattering. “You didn’t tell me she was your model.”
“She’s not. That’s
the amazing thing.” John reached around and cupped my soft mounds, bouncing them gently in his hands as his thumbs grazed my nipples so they grew even longer and harder. “I’ve been dreaming of her breasts for years and shaping them onto all my statues. It’s the same with her pussy.”
“Incredible!” Manuel agreed and dove into squeezing and licking and sucking the breasts John offered him with the same knee-weakening ardor he had put into kissing my mouth and caressing my clit.
The suspense was beginning to kill me. I reached down and boldly caressed Manuel’s cool leather pants, searching for and easily finding the bulge of his buried erection. I couldn’t wait to get both their cocks inside me.
He raised his head from my breasts. “Growing impatient, are we?” His teeth were strikingly white framed by his black goatee as he grinned down at me.
I cried out in protest as John spanked me so hard it really hurt and yet the pain only made my pussy feel even hotter and wetter.
“Would you like to suck his cock?” my lover whispered in my ear. “It’s safe. Trust me.”
It meant the world to me that he always seemed to know what I was thinking. With him I felt I could do things I never would have dreamed of doing alone.
“Ariana, ask Manuel for permission to suck his cock.”
As usual he had interpreted my silence correctly.
Manuel took a step back and slowly finished unbuttoning his shirt as I glanced away from him shyly. I wanted him so much it was shameful.
“Look at him,” my lover commanded, the rock-hard bulge of his erection digging into the base of my spine.
“Manuel…” I couldn’t go on. Asking for something was definitely much harder than just doing it or having it done to me. It was so mysteriously humiliating it sharpened my excitement almost painfully. I was forced to strip away falsely timid layers of modesty to bravely expose my true self and everything I really desired.
Faith in the Flesh Page 11
